Which kitchen floor?
My wife and I will be starting to remodel our kitchen in April and one of the important choices we must make is the type of floor covering to use. We are thinking of choosing marmoleum or possibly luxury vinyl planks. We know the former has the color all the way through the material whereas the latter has a thin veneer. We are concerned that the LVP might show wear patterns over time next to the counters which receive a lot of food prep. We would very much appreciate knowing the pros and cons of these two materials from those who have used or are currently using them. Comments on other types of flooring are also welcome. Many thanks.
Feb 28, 2021
Parent Replies
We have Marmoleum Click flooring that's about a decade old. It unfortunately has not worn well, and we would not put it in again. It has a ton of gouges and scratches from typical dog and kid wear-and-tear, and has discolored in areas where we've had mats or furniture. I have no idea how it compares to vinyl, though. We eventually plan to replace it with tile or wood. Pros were its environmental footprint and the fact that it is warm and things that are dropped more or less bounce off of it. But they don't outweigh the downsides for our family. Friends have had somewhat better luck with sheet Marmoleum (but with no kids in the mix, which I'm sure helps).
We have the “luxury vinyl plank” throughout our house and we love it! I don’t recall the brand, but it’s just an inexpensive one from Home Depot. It has stood up extremely well - even through my frequent furniture re-arrangements, our active dog and my elderly cat that throws up fairly frequently. I love being able to slide heavy furniture into a new location, with no fear of scratches on the floor. We have a light gray’ish brown color that hides the dirt well and is very low maintenance - I just vacuum the high-traffic areas every few days with a light cordless vacuum and our housekeeper mops it thoroughly once a month. I doubt that I’ll ever go back to real wood floors again...
After 15 years, we still love our high quality Cork Tile floors. LOVE that it's quiet; won't shatter things when they fall; easy on the feet when I spend a lot of time cooking, etc. There are a few little nicks in it from falling knives (oops!), but it's barely noticeable (the cork is the same color all the way through) & doesn't affect function at all. We don't have pets or small kids (but did have tweens, teens, and now young adults). It's probably faded a little over the years, but evenly.
How exciting to remodel your kitchen. I would strongly caution against LVT or vinyl-containing materials. It is made of PVC which is a carcinogen, although mostly when heated but do you want to have this at your home?
I really like the sheet marmoleum. It is timeless. It smells homey when it is installed, unlike the vinyl, which smells plasticy. I'm sure that offgasing plastic is not goof for anyone's health. It also seems to wear well. Strangely, our vinyl floor has developed spots over the years that will not come off. This has not been a problem with the marmoleum. Marmoleum is a great choice for the environment, for health, and for style.